Concluding from Part 1, the Chill one breaks down the demise of the original Flavor Unit, touring overseas and his first MC name.
Robbie: How do you feel about the different versions of the Flavor Unit that came out? Do you even care?
Chill Rob G: [laughs] You know the Flavor Unit kinda got away from me man, after Latifah hijacked the name “Flavor Unit” and ran with it. We all just kinda sat around and said “OK, that’s cool.” [In a dopey voice] “As long as we still down”, like we really had no say. It really didn’t go down the way it should have, I guess we all should have all taken a vote. But what happened was Latifah and Sha-Kim went out, incorporated the name, and then they called a meeting and told us “OK, we incorporated the name. We own the name Flavor Unit”. And that’s not the way you do it! But that’s the way they did it, and since we was such a tight unit – since we were all so close – we figured that there would be no problem. But it was business, and that’s just not the way business is supposed to be conducted. You don’t do things like that.
Then on the Roll Wit The Flava album the only original members on there were Latee and Apache. The rest of them were new guys.
It was a whole ‘nother thing. It was a whole ‘nother level. I actually went in the studio and recorded a verse on “Roll Wit The Flava”, but they took it off. They said there was some beef with Wild Pitch. They said Stu Fine wouldn’t allow it or something. (more…)
Check out this little clip for one of the best tracks from Black October, directed by Female Fun honcho Peter Agoston.
Elsewhere, Rafi and his trusty ban of “others” spotted an article in the latest print edition of XXL which lists Unkut.com as one of their “ten blogs worth bookmarking“, while Elliot Wilson confirmed my suspicion that eskay from Nah Right would be taking over the reigns from Brendan Frederick over at xxlmag.com, which is good news considering eskay’s commitment to gutter New York shit over random flavor of the month Southern douchebags.
If, for some ungodly reason, you’re not familiar with the work of Chill Rob G then you might want to check this before you read this interview I did with Rob a couple of months ago.
Robbie: In the early days of the Flavor Unit, was it tough for you guys to get accepted in New York, being that you’re from New Jersey?
Chill Rob G: In the very beginning I think we did have a bit of a problem, because at that time just about every MC who had a deal was from New York. I was one of the later members to come along, from the original Flavor Unit members, it was like Latifah, Apache and Latee – it was just those three. Then when I came along, Red Alert would play Mark’s beats but he wouldn’t play the MC’s – he wouldn’t play anything with the rappers on it. So I think one of my records, something that me and Mark did, was one of the first things he played with somebody rhyming on it. Then after that the door was kinda open.
So he’d only play stuff like “The 900 Number” before that?
“900 Number” came along later. Mark used to give Red Alert just beats for maybe a year before I even met him, and Red Alert would just play the beat on the show when he would interview people, or just talk over the beat, stuff like that. He had a little drop in the radio station, and it would go “45 King special-special!” and he would play the beat – but nobody would rhyme to it! (more…)
The rap remake is always a dicey proposition. Grabbing an old classic beat can be an easy way to get a few spins, but it can either leave the crowd grinning as they catch a flashback or pissed-off to hear an old favourite butchered. Although this technique has been around for years, I’ve noticed that high-profile producers like Just Blaze seem to be employing the remake with increasing regularity.
One of the biggest records to reference an old classic was Joe Budden’s “Pump It Up”, which saw JB flipping the break used for the “Scenario” remix. This wasn’t really a big deal though, since Marley Marl had actually beaten Tribe Called Quest to the punch when he first used the beat for LL Cool J’s “Cheesy Rat Blues” in 1990, and Just’s version was based around a heavy percussion track that interpolated the horn riff. This one gets a pass.
A Tribe Called Quest featuring L.O.N.S. & Kid Hood – “Scenario (remix)”
Considering that by the time you read this, Sadat X would have commenced serving a nine-month bid as a result of an “off-day” towards the end of last year, I imagine that on the morning I called him up to talk about his latest release he would have rather been doing just about anything other than fielding questions from some jerky. His record label dude had requested that I didn’t dwell on his legal woes too heavily, which was fine with me since he covers that subject on many of the tracks from Black October anyway – even going as far as detailing the entire incident at the end of the LP. Here’s what Breeze Brewin from the Juggaknots had to say about the great Dot X: “He’s bugged, man. He’s a real artist. When we was doing the record…just his taste in beats and his approach was very professional but still very artistic. His flow has gotten more complex as time had gone on – more intricate – and you can tell how he’s messing with patterns and different things…there’s definitely an artistic agenda there”.
Robbie: Is it fair to say that the new album was recorded in a limited time?
Sadat: Yeah, I had to do it kinda fast ’cause of the situation I was in. I had to basically get it done. (more…)
Forget all that talk about Kane and Rakim going at each other, this was the real war for rap supremacy right here. While they may have been connected through the Juice Crew, there was no shortage of “friendly competition” between G and BDK, as they tried to outdo one another with each new record. The official version of “Raw” set the tone “Set It Off” kicked proceedings into gear, but G Rap hit back hard with “Men At Work”, which forced Kane to bring it twice as hard on “Wrath of Kane”…which in turn resulted in Kool G striking back with “Poison”. Some straight “striving for perfection” shit.
G Rap later explained that he felt Kane pretty much chomped his whole “creature, feature, rapture, reacher” technique, which you can hear him unleashing on this alternative recording of “Raw”. Whether or not this is the case, this track is undoubtably one of the finest demonstrations of vocal prowess ever recorded. This ain’t “fast rap”, “Random” or “Golden Era throwback” – just hardcore “Project Sounds” shit at it’s finest.
Another Bbatson Shazam hook-up – the Kool Genius shreads the PA with a live spot from 1992, featuring the “Herman Munster” of UK Rap Radio – Timmy Westwood. After doing some Live & Let Die material over “Peter Piper”, he jets for a minute while some other kid (one of G’s TCF dancers?) attempts to get on and freestyle – the crowds response is priceless. Eventually, G returns over “Do The James” for some classic anti-social vocals. There’s also an entertaining (although predictably renamed) remake of “Men At Work” with Cormega, snatched off J-Love’s Mega mix which I think he lifted from a Future Flavas broadcast anyway… I might have to fuck around and make this “G Rap Week” at Unkut.com just for the hell of it.
Kool G Rap -Hijack Freestyle at Arches club in Vauxhall, UK, 1992
Meanwhile, it seems that the “Beat Biter” post from October is still going strong, as El Da Sensai and Just Blaze have recently chimed-in on the debate, while the original NYOIL post recently cracked the 400 comments mark (which is around 380 more than average!). Only a hundred to go to get that Gold certification I guess.
Those that have worked with the Godfather describe him as “eccentric”, and this bugged-out article that Max Glazer put together for On The Go magazine around nine years ago. A couple of tracks to go along with it – “Hazardous” from his 1991 album showcases Don rocking three different techniques on one song, while “Piece of the Action” demonstrates his more recent style over a buttery Betty Davis loop. While some seem to favor his early album and his demos, tracks like “Action” and “Seeds of Hate” are some of his finest as far as I’m concerned.
Godfather Don -Hazardous [Hazardous, Select, 1991]
You may have noticed that the last month and a half has been a little sparse on the update tip, but the real world got “mad real” as every rapper in 1993 would spout every five seconds, and without boring you with the details, those of you that have stuck with Unkut.com will be rewarded with some killer shit over the next month or so. I’ve got a stack of Mini Discs (remember those?) packed with all kinds of interviews from that the last 18 months that haven’t even been transcribed yet, so I’m finally starting to catch up on some of that time-consuming grind.
First up is the Chill Rob G conversation that happened off the strength of my post about him earlier in the year, which in turn led to him hooking me up with DJ Mark The 45 King and some other Flavor Unit originals. There’s also about fifteen other pieces I’ve been holding onto that I might unload up here in the near future, not to mention an ill new logo and masthead which is almost good to go. Who know, I might just fuck around and update Salute To Weed Carriers! (Whoa…easy there pal). Look out for a return to more vinyl rips as well…. (more…)
As the art of constructing solid, cohesive albums becomes more of a lost skill with each passing year, rap is returning to it’s roots as a single-based music. The thing is, vinyl singles are rapidly becoming a collector’s-only medium as technology and digital record pools take over, so mixtape compilations have been a staple source for all the good new shit while record buyers cross their fingers that someone’ll white label that shit. With that in mind – here’s six sure shots from recent times1
Black Market Malitia dropped this remix with R.A. earlier this year, but I only just around to rocking it. Rugged Man’s verse sounds like the precursor to that Nas name-dropping piece, but he wisely avoids shouting out Fu-Schnickens and Oaktown’s 357. PR reheats “U.F.O” for a Styles P and Sheek one two punch, while his future-shock masterpiece “Game of Death” still sounds the business since it first dropped (although I still prefer the Rock Marcy solo version). Preme’s buddy Termanology exposes a whole different verbal technique than he showcased on his break-out single for “100 Jewels”, while Premier produces an ill conceptual Poet drop which still hasn’t surfaced on black wax despite being a few months old. Finally there’s the obligitory GFK material, as his veers away from shop-talk for a classic bugged Starks narrative over what I’m assuming is a Doom producto. (more…)
1. The UN shit is a couple of years old though, but since not enough people heard it the first time around, I had to bring it back. [back]
